Well and Good

When I started this blog weeks ago, a hope came along with it that I will try to be consistently posting. See, the operative word is try.

I said it time and again that it’s not the absence of moments. I had plenty between the first post and today but things prevented me from doing so. One culprit is the insane bout of coughing and a nasty cold with semi-deafness to boot.

After two weeks, I’m feeling about 98% okay. The remaining 2% consists of sporadic coughing if only to expel tiny blobs of leftover phlegm (yuck, I know). A lot of people in the office were and are still sick now so it must be the weather and well, the office? I don’t know.

I had to take a day off one Wednesday because my cough was really bad and my voice was equally horrible. I had a training schedule six days out so I took a day off to make sure I will be alive by training day. The next days, including the long Labor Day weekend, somehow tempered the sick feeling, but it was because I dosed myself with meds the entire time. I cannot say I rested because I did not. I know, I know. The medical certificate advised three days of bed rest but typical stubborn me, I was just kinda deaf and had no sense of smell but all else was ok! Why put off my appointments?

So the weekend had me meeting up with friends, staying up late for an awesome local musicale, overdue shoe-shopping (and I’m-sick-Imma-buy-books shopping!), and some guilty pleasure reading. In a way I think I was deflecting the jitters of the training (where I trained/facilitated, not participated in) that’s why I tried to be busy.

The training session went by and only after that did I feel how tiresome the past days was and how insufficient my rest was. I pretended to be really okay when I was not, so much so that I had to take off before another work week ended because really, my body was begging me to listen to it unless I want to make the situation worse.

Rest, particularly sleep, is really underrated. It does something remarkable to you. Drugs are okay but why wait until you have to take them when you can avoid getting sick in the first place? The answer to that is a whimper from my stubborn self. I am not that young and not as healthy as when I was, well, young! Right now, I just feel great that I can smell again (and taste food, most especially LOL), my voice sounds normal, and I don’t feel feverish anymore. I tried going back to the gym if only to sweat a bit but I am not holding my breath. I know I should be pushing myself to do more of it but believe me, I know myself more. I’d rather realize I’ve been “working out” than condition myself that I have to do it. I’m really stubborn like that – let me do it and don’t pressure me! – and the weirder thing is, this is a battle I wage with myself. So parang baliw lang di ba? :-)

How have you been?

Review: Counting Candles

Title: Counting Candles 

Author: Dustin Bradshaw 

Release date: June 10, 2014 

Buy the book: Amazon │ Barnes & Noble │ Cedar Fort 

I received an e-copy from the publisher for an honest review. Photo from Cedar Fort Publishing. 

About the book:
As accountant James Smith approaches his 40th birthday, he concludes that his life is tedious, ho-hum, dull, and, well . . . mediocre. He can't image the vast ways that those around him are affected by his simple, caring acts. This tale of the extraordinary impact of ordinary lives is sure to touch your heart. 

MY THOUGHTS

This review was originally posted on my wordpress blog on July 4, 2014.

You must have heard the saying, “You can't really understand another person's experience until you've walked a mile in their shoes.” Counting Candles gave us glimpses of these different lives, of different shoes, showing us important lessons on love, life, and having faith in yourself. The characters were all connected to our protagonist James Smith who has struggles of his own. Nearing 40 years old, he started to look at his life and thought it was drab and dull. Unknowingly, there were people whose lives he touched, and these people have struggles of their own, too. So in a way, this whole story reflects how we’re all connected, all in our successes and failures.

The author has a way of making ordinary things still seem engaging. And by ordinary I mean feelings you have had at one point in your life, or events we have all seen on TV, movies, with real-life family and friends. More importantly, after reading about the stories, you did not just get a slice of life of different people; you are left thinking about your own and how you, as circumstances allow, have it easier. Or that what you’re going through is something that other people also do go through, enough for a writer to pen them down and weave them into one story.

One indication that I like what I’m reading is that I don’t get lost in alternating chapters. This book has it and I completely connected to the characters as they were introduced that I did not once flip back and ask, “Who’s this again?” I guess it’s natural when you’re reading about normal people like you. The characters are easily relatable and you cheer them on with each turn of the page. James Smith is likable because he seems to be a genuinely good person despite life’s challenges. However, I have to admit I rooted for the character of Shamanda the most. I don’t know, maybe because her struggle is something I slightly went through in recent past, that what happened to her gave me more hope that it’s gonna get easier. Also, one character made me tear up because he made me think a bit of my late father. If you know me enough, you’d know how much a sucker I am for daddy-daughter/children relationships. :-)

I recommend you read the book to know what I am talking about. And I challenge you to say neither you nor anyone you know was mirrored in any of the story, and I bet you can't. This book is the kind that will make you feel good when you reach the last page. I had a great time reading it.

A Newbie Veteran

I was introduced to blogging 11 years ago and have since hopped from one host to another. I stayed for a very long time in one platform particularly when I felt I needed to write something because someone was reading. While I can only laugh at the absurdity of that reason now, I still wonder why I was not able to bring back the momentum. I managed to post a few things about one of my greatest passions (books) but I did not sustain it.

So here I am again trying to carve a new niche. All of this is not new to me. Why here, you might ask. I guess I needed something that I can look at and tell myself I am starting this from scratch, not I am here again after months of unreasonable hiatus.

Getting my own domain is also in the works; thing is, not one has advised me that if I am to do this again (all over again), I have to at least keep it going. It is not a social/cyber responsibility as this is a personal blog, I know, but yeah, what's the point of intermittently showing up? Am I writing for myself (Yes.) or for others (Could be.).

The stream of ideas never stopped. The drive to put them down into one post is what's missing. Was, I think.

For now, please welcome a newbie vet in blogging. I will try to stay awake.